Nirvana (Buddhism)

This article is about Nirvana in Buddhism. For other uses, see Nirvana (disambiguation).

Translations of Nirvana
English	blowing out, extinguishing, liberation
Pali	nibbāna (निब्बान)
Sanskrit	nirvāṇa (निर्वाण)
Bengali	নির্বাণ
Burmese	နိဗ္ဗာန် (IPA: [neɪʔbàɴ])
Chinese	涅槃 (pinyin: nièpán)
Japanese	涅槃 (rōmaji: nehan)
Khmer	និពាន្វ (nik pean)
Korean	열반 (RR: yeolban)
Mon	နဳဗာန် ([nìppàn])
Mongolian	γasalang-aca nögcigsen
Shan	ၼိၵ်ႈပၢၼ်ႇ ([nik3paan2])
Sinhala	නිවන (Nivana)
Tibetan	མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ། (mya ngan las 'das pa)
Thai	นิพพาน (rtgs: nipphan)
Vietnamese	Niết bàn
Glossary of Buddhism

Nirvana (Sanskrit, also nirvāṇa; Pali: nibbana, nibbāna ) is the earliest and most common term used to describe the goal of the Buddhist path. The term is ambiguous, and has several meanings. The literal meaning is "blowing out" or "quenching."

Within the Buddhist tradition, this term has commonly been interpreted as the extinction of the "three fires", or "three poisons", passion, (raga), aversion (dvesha) and ignorance (moha or avidyā). When these fires are extinguished, release from the cycle of rebirth (saṃsāra) is attained.

In time, with the development of Buddhist doctrine, other interpretations were given, such as the absence of the weaving (vana) of activity of the mind, the elimination of desire, and escape from the woods, cq. the five skandhas or aggregates.

Buddhist tradition distinguishes between nirvana in this lifetime and nirvana after death. In "nirvana-in-this-lifetime" physical life continues, but with a state of mind that is free from negative mental states, peaceful, happy, and non-reactive. With "nirvana-after-death", parinirvana, the last remains of physical life vanish, and no further rebirth takes place.

Nirvana is the highest aim of the Theravada-tradition. In the Mahayana tradition, the highest goal is Buddhahood, in which there is no abiding in Nirvana, but a Buddha re-enters the world to work for the salvation of all sentient beings.

Although "non-self" and "impermanence" are accepted doctrines within most Buddhist schools, the teachings on nirvana reflect a strand of thought in which nirvana is seen as a transcendental, "deathless" realm, in which there is no time and no "re-death." This strand of thought may reflect pre-Buddhist influences, and has survived especially in Mahayana-Buddhism and the idea of the Buddha-nature.

Etymology

Nirvana

The term nirvana describes a state of freedom from suffering and rebirth, but its meaning is ambiguous, and several interpretations are possible. The origin is probably pre-Buddhist, and its etymology may not be conclusive for its meaning. The term was a more or less central concept among the Jains, the Ajivikas, the Buddhists, and certain Hindu strands, and it may have been imported into Buddhism with much of its semantic range from other sramanic movements. It has a wide range of meanings, although the literal meaning is "blowing out" or "quenching". It refers both to the act and the effect of blowing (at something) to put it out, but also the process and outcome of burning out, becoming extinguished.

Extinction

In the Buddhist tradition, nirvana, "to blow out", has commonly been interpreted as the extinction of the "three fires", or "three poisons", passion, (raga), aversion (dvesha) and ignorance (moha or avidyā). Traditionally many Buddhists have preferred to explain it as the absence of the weaving (vana) of activity of the mind.

The prevalent interpretation of nirvana as "extinction" is based on the etymology of nir√vā to "blow out". Nir is a negative, while va is commonly taken to refer to "to blow",

The term nirvana is part of an extensive metaphorical structure, which was probably established at a very early age in Buddhism. According to Gombrich, the number of three fires alludes to the three fires which a Brahmin had to keep alight, and thereby symbolise life in the world, as a family-man. The meaning of this metaphor was lost in later Buddhism, and other explanations of the word nirvana were sought. Not only passion, hatred and delusion were to extinguished, but also all cankers (asava) or defilements (khlesa). Later exegetical works developed a whole new set of etymological definitions of the word nirvana, taking vana not only to refer to "to blow", but also to "weaving, "desire" and "wood":

• vâna, derived from (root word) √vā:
  • (to) blow (of wind); but also to emit (an odour), be wafted or diffused; nirvana then means "to blow out";
  • "sewing, weaving"; nirvana then means "abandoning the desire which weaves together life [after] life (by means of) action (karma) and its result."
• vāna, derived from (root word) van:
  • "to desire"; nirvana then means "without desire," "the elimination of desire, craving, thirst and so on’ (all of which create bondage)."
  • "wood", which refers to the five aggregates; nirvana then means "escape from the aggregates".

The "blowing out" does not mean total annihilation, but the extinguishing of a flame, which is not annihilated but returns to the space where it came from, and exists in another way. The term nirvana can also be used as a verb: "he or she nirvāṇa-s," or "he or she parinirvānṇa-s" (parinibbāyati).

To uncover

Matsumoto argues for the etymology of nir√vŗ, to "uncover": According to Matsumoto, the original meaning of nirvana was not “extinction” but "to uncover." It is "the liberation of the atman from what is not atman." This is the liberation of the "spirit" (purusha) from the "body" (prakriti).

Moksha

Nirvana is used synonymously with moksha (Sanskrit), also vimoksha, or vimutti (Pali), "release, deliverance". In the Pali-canon two kinds of vimutti are discerned:

• Pañña-vimutti, freedom through understanding; it is brought about by understanding (prajña), which develops from the practice of insight meditation (vipassanā).
• Ceto-vimutti, freedom of mind; it arises out of the practice of concentration meditation (samādhi).

Ceto-vimutti is a partial release, while pañña-vimutti is final release. According to Gombrich, this difference is a later development within the canon, reflecting a growing emphasis in earliest Buddhism on prajña, instead of the liberating practice of dhyana.

Nirvana is liberation

Release from samsara

Eightfold path

By following the Noble Eightfold Path, which culminates in the practice of dhyana, the mind is brought to rest and the three fires are extinguished . In later Buddhism, this practice was deemed sufficient only for the extinguishing of passion and hatred, while delusion was extinguished by insight.

End of rebirth

See also: Samsara (Buddhism) and Rebirth (Buddhism)

Samyutta Nikaya 31,1 states:

The extinction of greed, the extinction of hate, the extinction of delusion: this indeed is called Nirvana.

When the fires of attachment (raga), aversion (dvesha) and ignorance (moha or avidya), are extinguished, liberation from rebirth is attained:

For as long as one is entangled by craving, one remains bound in saṃsāra, the cycle of birth and death; but when all craving has been extirpated, one attains Nibbāna, deliverance from the cycle of birth and death.

When the fires are extinguished, the formation of thee saṅkhāra is also ended. By uprooting the sanskara (volitional dispositions) one is no longer subject to further rebirth in samsāra.

A liberated person performs neutral actions (Pali: kiriya kamma), which don't produce karmic results or fruit (vipaka), but nonetheless preserves a particular individual personality. This is the result of the traces of his or her karmic heritage.

Various goals

In early Buddhism, Nirvana is used as a synonym for vimutti, release (from samsara), as the ultimate goal of the Buddhist path. This goal is still prevalent in contemporary Theravada-Buddhism. In Mahayana-Buddhism, the attainment of nirvana is seen as a lesser goal; the highest goal is the attainment of Buddhahood. According to Mahayana Buddhism, a Buddha does not abide in an isolated nirvana, but out of compassion engages in enlightened activity to liberate all sentient beings.

Nirvana with and without remainder of fuel

In the Buddhist tradition, a distinction is made between the extinguishing of the fires during life, and the final "blowing out" at the moment of death:

• Sa-upādisesa-nibbāna (Pali; Sanskrit sopadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), "nirvana with remainder", "nirvana with residue." Nirvana is attained during one's life, when the fires are extinguished. There is still the "residue" of the five skandhas, and a "residue of fuel", which however is not "burning". Nirvana-in-this-life is believed to result in a transformed mind with qualities such as happiness, freedom of negative mental states, peacefulness and non-reactiveness.
• An-up ādisesa-nibbāna (Pali; Sanskrit nir-upadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), "nirvana without remainder," "nirvana without residue". This is the final nirvana, or parinirvana or "blowing out" at the moment of death, when there is no fuel left.

Gombrich explains that the five skandhas or aggregates are the bundles of firewood that fuel the three fires. The Buddhist practitioner ought to "drop" these bundles, so that the fires are no longer fueled and "blow out". When this is done, the bundles still remain as long as this life continues, but they are no longer "on fire."

What happens with one who has reached nirvana after death is an unanswerable question. The five aggregates vanish, but there does not remain a mere "nothingness."

Theravada

In Theravada the arahant abiding in nirvāṇa is "the ideal personality, the true human being".

Unconditioned

In the Theravada-tradition, nirvana is regarded as an uncompounded or unconditioned state of being which is "transmundane", and which is beyond our normal dualistic conceptions.

O bhikkhus, what is the Absolute (Asaṃkhata, Unconditioned)? It is, O bhikkhus, the extinction of desire (rāgakkhayo) the extinction of hatred (dosakkhayo), the extinction of illusion (mohakkhayo). This, O bhikkhus, is called the Absolute.

Levels of attainment

Main article: Four stages of enlightenment

The Theravada tradition identifies four progressive stages culminating in full enlightenment as an Arahat. The final stage, the arhat, is a fully awakened person. The arhat has abandoned all ten fetters and, upon death will never be reborn in any plane or world, having wholly escaped saṃsāra.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu notes that individuals up to the level of non-returning may experience nirvāna as an object of mental consciousness. Certain contemplations with nibbana as an object of samādhi lead, if developed, to the level of non-returning. At that point of contemplation, which is reached through a progression of insight, if the meditator realizes that even that state is constructed and therefore impermanent, the fetters are destroyed, arahantship is attained, and nibbāna is realized.

Visuddhimagga

Purification

According to the Visuddhimagga, nirvana is achieved after a long process of committed application to the path of purification (Pali: Vissudhimagga). The Buddha explained that the disciplined way of life he recommended to his students (dhamma-vinaya) is a gradual training extending often over a number of years. To be committed to this path already requires that a seed of wisdom is present in the individual. This wisdom becomes manifest in the experience of awakening (bodhi). Attaining nibbāna, in either the current or some future birth, depends on effort, and is not pre-determined.

Different paths

In the Visuddhimagga, Ch. I, v. 6 (Buddhaghosa and Ñāṇamoli, 1999, pp. 6–7.), Buddhaghosa identifies various options within the Pali canon for pursuing a path to nirvana. According to Gombrich, this proliferation of possible paths to liberation reflects later doctrinal developments, and a growing emphasis on insight as the main liberative means, instead of the practice of dhyana.

Mahayana

Buddhahood

Wooden statue of Quan Âm (Avalokiteśvara, Guanyin) with 1000 eyes and 1000 hands.

Main article: Buddhahood

See also: Bodhisattva, Avalokiteśvara, Guanyin, and Ten Bulls

The Mahayana (Great Vehicle) tradition envisions an attainment beyond nirvana, namely Buddhahood. The Hinayana path only leads to one's own liberation, either as sravaka (listener, hearer, or disciple) or as pratyeka-buddha (solitary realizer). The Mahayana path aims at a further realization, namely Buddhahood or nonabiding (apratiṣṭhita) nirvana. A Buddha does not dwell in nirvana, but engages actively in enlightened activity to liberate beings for as long as samsara remains.

Five paths and ten bhumis

Main articles: Bodhisattva and Bhūmi (Buddhism)

The Mahayana commentary the Abhisamayalamkara presents the path of the bodhisattva as a progressive formula of Five Paths (pañcamārga). A practitioner on the Five Paths advances through a progression of ten stages, referred to as the bodhisattva bhūmis (grounds or levels).

Omniscience

The end stage practice of the Mahayana removes the imprints of delusions, the obstructions to omniscience, which prevent simultaneous and direct knowledge of all phenomena. Only Buddhas have overcome these obstructions, according to Mahayana Buddhism, and, therefore, only Buddhas have omniscience knowledge. From the Mahayana point of view, an arhat who has achieved the nirvana of the Lesser Vehicle will still have certain subtle obscurations that prevent the arhat from realizing complete omniscience. When these final obscurations are removed, the practitioner will attain nonabiding nirvana and achieve full omniscience.

Visible manifestations

Some Mahayana traditions see the Buddha in almost docetic terms, viewing his visible manifestations as projections from within the state of nirvana. According to Etienne Lamotte, Buddhas are always and at all times in nirvana, and their corporeal displays of themselves and their Buddhic careers are ultimately illusory. Lamotte writes of the Buddhas:

They are born, reach enlightenment, set turning the Wheel of Dharma, and enter nirvana. However, all this is only illusion: the appearance of a Buddha is the absence of arising, duration and destruction; their nirvana is the fact that they are always and at all times in nirvana.’

Ontological status of nirvana

Non-Buddhist influences

Deathlessness

Nirvana is described by the Buddha as "deathlessness" (Pali: amata or amāravati). Steven Collins:

Nirvana is most commonly presented in secondary sources as freedom from rebirth, as are other Indian ideas of liberation; but as the pre-Buddhist history of ideas sketched earlier makes clear, the first suggestions of what was later to become a theory of rebirth (punarjanman) were in fact fears of redeath (punarmrryu). "Deathless," or "death-free" (amata) , is both a predicate standardly applied to nirvana, and a substantive used as a synonym for it. It is the Pali form of the Sanskrit amrta, but unlike that term in Vedic literature it does not mean continuing life or vitality as opposed to death. It refers to a place (metaphorically), state or condition where there is no death, because there is also no birth, no coming into existence, nothing made by conditioning, and therefore no time.

"Neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor wind" (Udana 8.1)

In a famous passage in the Nibbana Sutta (Udana 8.1), the Buddha states:

There is that dimension where there is neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor wind; neither dimension of the infinitude of space, nor dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, nor dimension of nothingness, nor dimension of neither perception nor non-perception; neither this world, nor the next world, nor sun, nor moon. And there, I say, there is neither coming, nor going, nor stasis; neither passing away nor arising: without stance, without foundation, without support [mental object]. This, just this, is the end of stress (dukkha; suffering).

This passage may reflect brahmanical influences.

Precanonical Buddhism

Stanislaw Schayer, a Polish scholar, argued in the 1930s that the Nikayas preserve elements of an archaic form of Buddhism which is close to Brahmanical beliefs, and survived in the Mahayana tradition. Contrary to popular opinion, the Theravada and Mahayana traditions may be "divergent, but equally reliable records of a pre-canonical Buddhism which is now lost forever." The Mahayana tradition may have preserved a very old, "pre-Canonical" tradition, which was largely, but not completely, left out of the Theravada-canon.

Regamy has identified four points which are central to Schayer's reconstruction of precanonical Buddhism:

1. The Buddha was considered as an extraordinary being, in whom ultimate reality was embodied, and who was an incarnation of the mythical figure of the tathagata;
2. The Buddha's disciples were attracted to his spiritual charisma and supernatural authority;
3. Nirvana was conceived as the attainment of immortality, and the gaining of a deathless sphere from which there would be no falling back. This nirvana, as a transmundane reality or state, is incarnated in the person of the Buddha;
4. Nirvana can be reached because it already dwells as the inmost "consciousness" of the human being. It is a consciousness which is not subject to birth and death.

Schayer's methodology has been used by M. Falk. Falk details the precanonical Buddhist conceptions of the cosmos, nirvana, the Buddha, the path, and the saint. According to Falk, in the precanonical tradition, there is a threefold division of reality:

1. The rupadhatu, the samsaric sphere of name and form (namarupa), in which ordinary beings live, die, and are reborn.
2. The arupadhatu, the sphere of "sheer nama," produced by samadhi, an ethereal realm frequented by yogins who are not completely liberated;
3. "Above" or "outside" these two realms is the realm of nirvana, the "amrta sphere," characterized by prajna. This nirvana is an "abode" or "place" which is gained by the enlightened holy man.

According to Falk, this scheme is reflected in the precanonical conception of the path to liberation. The nirvanic element, as an "essence" or pure consciousness, is immanent within samsara. The three bodies are concentric realities, which are stripped away or abandoned, leaving only the nirodhakaya of the liberated person. Wynne notes that this pure consciousness was the central element in precanonical Buddhism:

Schayer referred to passages in which "consciousness" (vinnana) seems to be the ultimate reality or substratum (e.g. A I.10) 14 as well as the Saddhatu Sutra, which is not found in any canonical source but is cited in other Buddhist texts — it states that the personality (pudgala) consists of the six elements (dhatu) of earth, water, fire, wind, space and consciousness; Schayer noted that it related to other ancient Indian ideas. Keith’s argument is also based on the Saddhatu Sutra as well as "passages where we have explanations of Nirvana which echo the ideas of the Upanishads regarding the ultimate reality." He also refers to the doctrine of "a consciousness, originally pure, defiled by adventitious impurities."

Conze mentions ideas like the "person" (pudgala), the assumption of an eternal "consciousness" in the saddhatusutra, the identification of the Absolute, of Nirvana, with an "invisible infinite consciousness, which shines everywhere" in Dighanikaya XI 85, and "traces of a belief in consciousness as the nonimpermanent centre of the personality which constitutes an absolute element in this contingent world."

According to Lindtner, in precanonical Buddhism Nirvana is a physical place and the outer most realm of cosmos

... a place one can actually go to. It is called nirvanadhatu, has no border-signs (animitta), is localized somewhere beyond the other six dhatus (beginning with earth and ending with vijñana) but is closest to akasa and vijñana. One cannot visualize it, it is anidarsana, but it provides one with firm ground under one’s feet, it is dhruva; once there one will not slip back, it is acyutapada. As opposed to this world, it is a pleasant place to be in, it is sukha, things work well.

According to Lindtner, Canonical Buddhism was a reaction to this view, but also against the absolutist tendencies in Jainism and the Upanisads. Nirvana came to be seen as a state of mind, instead of a concrete place.

Elements of this precanonical Buddhism may have survived the canonisation, and its subsequent filtering out of ideas, and re-appeared in Mahayana Buddhism. According to Lindtner, the existence of multiple, and contradicting ideas, is also reflected in the works of Nagarjuna, who tried to harmonize these different ideas. According to Lindtner, this lead him to take a "paradoxical" stance, for instance regarding nirvana, rejecting any positive description.

Buddha-nature

Luminous mind

See also: Luminous mind

"Consciousness without feature, without end, luminous all around"

The Mahayana-tradition developed the concept of the Buddha-nature, the innate presence of Buddha-hood. With nirvāṇa the consciousness is released, and the mind becomes aware in a way that is totally unconstrained by anything in the conditioned world. The Pali canon describes this in a variety of passages. One way is as "Consciousness without feature, without end, luminous all around."

According to Wayman, the idea of an innately pure luminous mind (prabhasvara citta), "which is only adventitiously covered over by defilements (agantukaklesa)" lead to the development of the concept of Buddha-nature, the idea that Buddha-hood is already innate, but not recognised. This luminous mind is being mentioned in the Anguttara Nikaya:

Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is defiled by incoming defilements".

"Luminous consciousness" is nirvāṇa

In one interpretation, the "luminous consciousness" is identical with nirvāṇa. Others disagree, finding it to be not nirvāṇa itself, but instead to be a kind of consciousness accessible only to arahants. A passage in the Majjhima Nikaya likens it to empty space.

For liberated ones the luminous, unsupported consciousness associated with nibbana is directly known without mediation of the mental consciousness factor in dependent co-arising, and is the transcending of all objects of mental consciousness. It differs radically from the concept in the pre-Buddhist Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita of Self-realization, described as accessing the individual's inmost consciousness, in that it is not considered an aspect, even the deepest aspect, of the individual's personality, and is not to be confused in any way with a "Self". Furthermore, it transcends the sphere of infinite consciousness, the sixth of the Buddhist jhanas, which is in itself not the ending of the conceit of "I".

Nagarjuna alluded to a passage regarding this level of consciousness in the Dighanikaya in two different works. He wrote that

The Sage has declared that earth, water, fire, and wind, long, short, fine and coarse, good, and so on are extinguished in consciousness ... Here long and short, fine and coarse, good and bad, here name and form all stop.

The mind of the Arahant is nirvana

A related idea, which finds support in the Pali Canon and the contemporary Theravada practice tradition despite its absence in the Theravada commentaries and Abhidhamma, is that the mind of the arahant is itself nibbana.

Vijnana as "non-manifestive consciousness"

Ajahns Pasanno and Amaro, contemporary vipassana-teachers write that what is referred to with the use of the word "viññana" (consciousness) is the quality of awareness, and that the use of the term "viññana" must be in a broader way than it usually is meant.

This "non-manifestive consciousness" differs from the kinds of consciousness associated to the six sense media, which have a "surface" that they fall upon and arise in response to. According to Peter Harvey, the early texts are ambivalent as to whether or not the term "consciousness" is accurate. In a liberated individual, this is directly experienced, in a way that is free from any dependence on conditions at all.

Purified mind

See also: Dharmakaya

In some Mahayana/Tantric texts, nirvana is described as purified, non-dualistic 'superior mind'. For example, the Samputa Tantra states:

Undefiled by lust and emotional impurities, unclouded by any dualistic perceptions, this superior mind is indeed the supreme nirvana.'

Tathagatagarbha-sutras

Positive language

According to some scholars, the language used in the Tathāgatagarbha genre of sutras can be seen as an attempt to state orthodox Buddhist teachings of dependent origination using positive language instead. Yamamoto points out that this ‘affirmative’ characterization of nirvana pertains to a supposedly higher form of nirvana—that of ‘Great Nirvana’. Speaking of the 'Bodhisattva Highly Virtuous King' chapter of the Nirvana Sutra, Yamamoto quotes the scripture itself:

What is nirvana? ...this is as in the case in which one who has hunger has peace and bliss as he has taken a little food.

Yamamoto continues with the quotation, adding his own comment:

But such a nirvāna cannot be called “Great Nirvāna”". And it [i.e. the Buddha’s new revelation regarding nirvana] goes on to dwell on the “Great Self”, “Great Bliss”, and “Great Purity”, all of which, along with the Eternal, constitute the four attributes of Great Nirvana.

Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra

The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, which has as one of its main topics precisely the realm or dhatu of nirvana, has the Buddha speak of four attributes which make up nirvana. Writing on this Mahayana understanding of nirvana, William Edward Soothill and Lewis Hodous state:

‘The Nirvana Sutra claims for nirvana the ancient ideas of permanence, bliss, personality, purity in the transcendental realm. Mahayana declares that Hinayana, by denying personality in the transcendental realm, denies the existence of the Buddha. In Mahayana, final nirvana is both mundane and transcendental, and is also used as a term for the Absolute.

Kosho Yamamoto, translator of the full-length Nirvana Sutra, expresses the view that the non-Self doctrine of the Buddha's earlier teaching phase is an expedient only and that in the Nirvana Sutra a hidden teaching on the True Self is disclosed by the Buddha:

He [the Buddha] says that the non-Self which he once taught is none but of expediency ... He says that he is now ready to speak about the undisclosed teachings. Men abide in upside-down thoughts. So he will now speak of the affirmative attributes of nirvana, which are none other than the Eternal, Bliss, the Self and the Pure.

See also

• Bodhi
• Enlightenment (religious)
• Nibbana-The Mind Stilled
• Nirvana
• Parinirvana
• Satori
• Shunyata

Notes

Further notes on "different paths"

Quotes

Further notes on quotes

Further reading

• Ajahn Brahm, "Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond: A Meditator's Handbook" (Wisdom Publications 2006) Part II.
• Katukurunde Nanananda, "Nibbana - The Mind Stilled (Vol. I-VII)" (Dharma Grantha Mudrana Bharaya, 2012).
• Kawamura, Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhism, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1981, pp. 11.
• Yogi Kanna, "Nirvana: Absolute Freedom" (Kamath Publishing; 2011) 198 pages.
• Steven Collins. Nirvana: Concept, Imagery, Narrative (Cambridge University Press; 2010) 204 pages.